Showing posts with label Me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Me. Show all posts

Monday, May 24, 2010

MOMS new Icon

Icon
Last night we designed a logo for the Indian Railways project we have been working on. The project has been code named MOMS which stands for MEMS based oscillation measuring device. Its a very cool concept that was incepted right here in our Mechanical Engineering Dept last year. It uses sensors to detect faults in the railway tracks and then plots them onto a map on a small screen device for easy repair. Once this cost effective solution is implemented repairing and monitoring railway tracks could be done in a jiffy.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Ubiquity

Ubiquity is the coolest firefox plugin yet. It allows you to give commands to firefox in normal english to look for directions, update twitter, insert maps in mails and much much more.

I also wrote a small plugin for ubiquity which allows you to look up words at Definr.com, my favorite dictionary site. You can get it here: http://gist.github.com/217297

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Bangalore get away

One fine Saturday morning after a sleep less night I was wondering what to do over the week end. I was walking around in my apartment and saw Celebrating Silence lying on the shelf. Within a fraction of a second I knew I was going to Bangalore. I called up Bhaskar, found out that Guruji was in town, packed my bag in 5 mins and rushed to the airport.
4hrs later the cool invigorating breeze was telling me I was in Bangalore.

On my way to Guru Bhaiya's place I managed to stop at an Apple store, exchange a few tips with the specialist and buy a sports strap for my iPhone.

Its always a euphoric experience to be at Guru Bhiaya's place. The whole environment in the house is very satvik and beaming with energy. Guru bhaiya is always upto something new and exciting. We share a common passion for OOPS(object oriented programming) and Batman. He has combined his talent in music and computer programming and invented things unheard of in the music industry. Aunty (Guru bhaiya's mom) makes great food, attends parties back to back and is always in a fun mood. Archna di has also has a keen interest in music and loves photography. Nothing can stop her if she has a camera in her hand.Later that day I went to the Ashram (Art of Living Bangalore center which we loving call Ashram) and the next day again. I stood in a crowd, got elbowed a few times but it was a pleasure to see him (H H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar). He was as jovial as ever. The Teachers' training course had just finished and I got a change to meet some old friends cum new teachers. I felt very proud of them.
We celebrated Bhaskar's (the one in the orange kurta and with the icing on his face) birthday in the Ashram. The best butter scotch cake I ever had.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Come back.... Come back to where you once belonged

Thats the song that comes to my head when I think of my alma mater...

Research@LibrarySkating... My national timpass

The end of my masters was a crazy time... I learn't that research couldn't be accelerated beyond a certain rate and then I started moving faster than that :)... I had started photography again with my introduction to the Canon 500D. Every now and then I would go out for skating too.
FacB (Faculty Building) roof top had become a regular wee hrs hangout spot.
Even with all the time crunch sleep was the only thing I was budgeting on. Visits to the bowling alley and to the coffee shop were prioritized. When Priyesh and Prachi came over we went to the Landmark hotel with Neharika to show off my exemplary driving skills. People there got to witness such awesomeness that they had to be sworn to secrecy.

The Mai Hu DON walk@ Landmark (From Left: Neharika, Priyesh(Chotu), Prachi)
FacB Roof Top 2am (From Left: Tulsi, Neha, me, Deep, Dhaval, Sandeep)Ksh sporting the 'tora aur milega look'Technology Park@BangaloreKsh wanted to click some pics and guess who volunteered to model :)

The Banglore trip before coming to Mumbai was a great success. The project partners were very happy to see their feed back taken into account and with all the progress made. Also the digital entertainment system in the flight crashed and we got a chance to make a video of the system boot up... that was a really cherry on the icing for us geeks... the icing being the great hotel and the night at the hard rock cafe.

The dump from the airline entertainment system boot upAnother one from the FacB roof top

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Early Morning Cycle Ride

A couple of days back I was talking with a friend when I realized there is still a lot to explore here before I go. So starting on with my expedition I went on a early morning cycling safari to the pond@IITK. This place is behind hall of residence 9 and its pretty difficult to locate on foot because of the hedges all around and the uneven landscape, but I am a pretty stubborn person when I set my mind on something.
To prepare for the trip I borrowed my cycle back:), got it serviced and cleaned up and didn't sleep through out the night, probably the best techniques to make sure you are up early. Next step was to look up the place in google earth and get going. Cycling on bumpy, lumpy, rocky ground is my passion. I love to cycle fast on rough terrains and avoid getting thrown off it. After around half an hour of hunting I was able to locate it and it was worth the wait. The sunlight reflecting off the water looked magnificent.
I also ran into some huge birds that morning. They had deep red colored necks and were over 4.5 feet tall. This is the closest I could get to them without disturbing them. Pic from my iPhone.Hopefully I'll get a good camera soon. PS: I voted :). If votes have still not been casted in your region, do go out and vote.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

It's April fool's day ...

April fool's day in Kshitz's words:

Amidst loads of hassles and chaos due to uninformed visit of GM's top official, April fool's day fetched us many preys for entertainment, with Taru and Neha leading the row with Mr. and Ms. Popat award. The plan was incubated at the Hall 8 mess during lunch time while I was having food with Shubham. We had been thinking of some nice idea to play a prank on someone. When we were entering the mess I came across Ashwini Shukla. I had found my prey. Shubham suggested me to call Neha, and propose her. Since she didn't have my phone number so it should work out easily. I was little uncertain of the success of the plan... "proposing a girl ... although fake.. still first time in my life I was bound to stammer and fail." We even wrote a script for carrying out the entire series of events. Finally I gathered some courage and called her :

"Hello Neha... my name is Ashwini Shukla. I am a 4th year UG in the Mech Deptt and am planning to start my own firm and would like you to design the website for the same. I saw you a couple of times at CC canteen and got your no. from Rahul Verma. Could we meet at 6 in the CR."And fortunately she agreed in the first attempt.

Our evilness turned darker by the evening and we began making more wicked plans. We needed some girl who could fake Neha and call Ashwini to the CR. We approached Ruchira Ma'am and she agreed but 'Shubham didn't have the script ready by then'. Meanwhile Akanksha had arrived in the lab and gladly joined the gang. I confirmed Shukla's phone no. from Saket and called him from my mobile but he didn't pick the phone. While we were still planning what next... there was call on my phone from the same number. Akanksha picked up the phone. The plan was that she would say that she was a student from MNNIT who wanted to participate in Robocon and needed his guidance. She picked up the phone , "Hello , may I talk to Ashwini Shukla." On realizing that the voice on the other side was feminine she asked "Who is this?". "This is Neha. Is it Ashwini's phone number ?" I immediately realised that I had called up the last dialled number, that was Neha's and not Shukla's. What a popat were we making of ourselves; picking up Neha's call and a girl asking her for Shukla leaving no reason for her to trust us.

2-3 more attempts but Shukla didn't pick the phone. It was already 5 and we didn't have much time now. So we started thinking of some alternative target. But who could beat the mastermind Shubham who had already fooled 3 people in the meantime. He called up his Mom saying that he had finally found a girl and he wanted to introduce her to them at an upcoming family function at his uncle's. Surbhi was in the lab for a while and even she was not spared, "You know Vyas Sir has become the director of IIT Indore " :D He didn't stop at that. He wanted a double cross; when Ruchira Ma'am would call up Ashwini it should be someone else on the other side and she would herself be fooled.



We were browsing through our gtalk lists and came across Taru - the perfect choice. Akanksha made up a nice storyline , "Hello I am from Kanpur Institiute Of Technology. Our group is working on a solar heater project and Kadambi Sir wanted us to meet you. Could we meet at CR and could you share some of your notes and works". Poor Taru in his usual squeezing voice agreed to all her conditions (I could imagine him sitting on his chair and pressing the space bar for pausing the media player). It was 5.55 and we were planning to leave when Vyas Sir entered the lab saying, "Mr. Mangalgiri is in campus and would be here in 10 minutes." What the hell... we felt so cheated, while trying our best to somehow delay his visit but nothing seemed to work that day. Finally I somehow convinced Neha to come over to the CC canteen while Taru was still unreachable. While we were moving out to CC canteen Vyas Sir informed us that we would have to go and meet him in the VH itself so we were relaxed but it was little late as Neha might have already left. I again called her up and asked her to be at CR itself.

We moved towards the shop-C where Taru was sitting under the tree waiting for his lady. The sight was amazing. He had a big diary in his hand probably containing all his btp work to be sacrificed for a KIT girl. We went inside making him comfortable and at the same time pulling his leg. His usual stupid principles didn't take a break even here, "Yaar sabse buri baat ye hai ki log time dete hain aur late aate hain. Main 4 baar phone kar chuka huun but no kar de rahi hai." I was literally feeling sorry for him but could not stop recording all this conversation on my phone. "So, Taru whats her name," asked someone. "She didn't tell that and neither did I ask." And still this gentleman was waiting there well dressed up waiting to pour out all his knowledge. If only we had a little more time..... the story could have continued for some more time. I asked him to watch a video in the meantime which was nothing but the Akanksha's call video. He almost went dumb for a minute and then says, "Ab CR aa hi gaye hain to kuchh khila do." But we had to proceed to CC canteen to claim another treat. I called up Neha and this time some guy picks up the phone and spoke rather rudely as to who I was and why I was looking for her. I called on her cell back and assured that I am not fake and I was serious about the project to which she blindly agreed. While heading towards the lab a profile video was made on the Taru and the gang behind these activities. Shubham's description of his role in the story was worth noting, "Main sabse chaapu huun...saari achhi planning karta huun, tum log tel machate ho fir main usko wipe out karta huun".

Neha was waiting on a table behind the TMRS lab. Shubham jumped to ask her what was she doing there. "I was actually waiting for someone," with no clue to who the caller was and what was the name of the company she was making the website for. I tried to instigate some talks regarding Shukla but probably her enthusiasm about the first project of her life didn't let her stop.

Shubham :"So koi bhi ladka tumhe kahega ki kaam hai aa jao to chali jaogi".
Neha: "Mech mein main sab ladkon ko jaanti huun..ccc mein sabko dekha hai."
Shubham: "Rahul ko apna no. kyon diya?"
Akanksha :"Agar Vyas Sir peechhe se aa jayein to teeno ka jayega."

Praneeth who was waiting in the lab to hand me the bluetooth mobile for demo was already in the lab and was bugging me on the phone. So we decided to uncover the mystery fast. We once again showed her the call video and got our shares of abuses immediately.

Shubham: "Btw wo banda kaun tha jisne jhaada tha ?"
Neha : "To wo tum the jisne phone kiya tha... you dog .. agar maine pehle tumhari awaaz phone pe suni hoti to galti na karti ... arey wo to cross connection tha."

We apologised to the victims and proceeded for mission lab's mission now, when Neha snatched away Shubham's phone. Shukla after seeing my missed call, called back on my phone. Shubham not having switched to the work mode yet, cooked up a nice censored story to him on the phone.

Now it was Praneeth's turn who was walking with us towards the VH. He overheard our conversation regarding Neha making the company's website and got curious, "Which company which website... you registered your company or what". Why should we let him slip when he wants to drown himself. We cooked up a nice story that Shubham's Dad has loads of contacts and he has got us a company registered dealing in embedded systems. A website has also been registered for the same. "You didn't even inform me. What is this ? ...bla bla..bla", the whining continued till we had reached our destination.



The movie was yet not over and some anti-climax was still in store for us. We reached the VH at 6.45 only to realise that his room was locked. After waiting for 15 minutes I called up Sir and the much awaited typhoon was there. I tried to calm him down. Then we went to pick Dr. Mangalgiri from the "Artist in Residence" show. We brought him to the lab at 9 pm where our presentations lasted till 11.30 pm. Next morning we got the 2nd part of the blow from Sir when the single wheel test rig was not working. "3 din se bol rakha hai...ready kyn nahi hua. hasi mazaak chal raha tha kya !!" Somehow RSS and Ruchira Ma'am managed the situation and showed him some working VI.

A day full of pranks and an evening of nightmares.. deadly combination !!

via: http://kshdeo.blogspot.com
Go to Kshitz's blog for more fun stuff and happening of IIT Kanpur. There is a lot of untold and unheard stuff there.... shoking reveletions what the life at IIT is like.....
Chow
Shubham

Friday, March 6, 2009

Hi
I am in Bangalore. Came here to have a discussion with some very experienced researchers on the project I am working on. My project is basically a joint collaboration between GM and IIT Kanpur and is related to improving the car steering system. Here the GM facilities are excellent. Very quite and peaceful offices to work in and well equipped labs to break things in.
Apart from work I got a chance to go to the MG Road. While packing for Bangalore I realized that I had only one pair of jeans which was in one piece. Rest have ripped some where or the other, mostly my skating habits are to be blamed. So I got a couple of jeans.
Before coming here some thing very interesting happened. A couple of weeks back my guide and I figured that I need to give some direction to the project I am working on. For that he suggested I go to GM Bangalore, present my work and get some feed back and thoughts. I promptly fixed a meeting and booked my tickets. 5 days before departure I realized something. Say my work is shooting arrows. I was supposed to shoot an arrow in the North direction, but because it was a little foggy at that moment in the north I decided to shoot an arrow 2 degrees from the north figuring I could reorient it later, back to north. Five days before the presentation I found out that there was no possible way to reorient the arrow and all the work I had so far, now only contributed to increasing my knowledge. So basically 4 months of slogging and nothing to present, that too a week before!!!!. Life is full of pleasant surprises :).I figured what had happened had happened and there was no way of knowing how this knowledge would contribute in the future. Smiling at my fate I started again from scratch. I toiled for 3 days and nights and finally was closing on something that might have accounted as presentable results, when again something very interesting happened.
Some late night creative photography....:)
At 6 am 2 days before the presentation I realized I wasn't supposed to shoot an arrow in the north in the first place. I was happy that now finally I knew what was to be done and was pondering on how stale life would be without these servings of salt and pepper along the way. I decided to do first things first..... sleep.... So I went for group kriya to Ankur's room at 6:30am with every intention of going to sleep after that. Who knew the master had something else in mind. After the group kriya Deep and Neha figured it would be better for me to go for Dev D morning show :) I also thought it was a great idea and willing went provided they took me in a taxi and the ticket was paid for. So 10 am we were at Big Cinemas ready for some emotional attyachaar in the most expensive seats :P.
After the movie I took some rest and worked till my morning train the next day. Before leaving I had the equations ready. I did the presentation on my way and by the time I reached I was almost done....... Now when I look back I cannot stop laughing and wondering how things happen. The universe works perfectly.... all you need to do is have some faith. I have no idea how a lazy bum like me stayed up for 5 day... almost straight..... :)... well actually I have some idea. In the last couple of year events with same central theme have happened over and over again and I have realized one profound truth about my life: It's going to be a lot of fun (unimaginable)........ but its not going to be easy at all..... a no comfort zone is guaranteed... :) well I have developed a liking for it. I'll do the next part of the post soon with details on how the trip turned out to be...... and how I managed to meet the Guru (Guru bhai and His holiness Sri Sri).....
Signing of and hoping a good night's sleep in weeks
Shubham

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

What have I been up to

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking
During Megabucks 09:
Fake river crossing.Fake crossing of the fake river: The 3 1/2 dirty yellow teeth visible belong to Meet
Swinging on the rope bridge.

Rappelling off the Auditorium wall

Great job Megabucks team and Zice

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Casual Updates....

So many days have gone by and I have been waiting to write something. A lot has happened since I last posted.A YES!+ course in campus. The course was a big hit and every one had so much fun. I remember something Bhaiya asked in one of the post course sessions which made me think a lot. We were eating Pani puri in Rave Moti when Ankur pointed out how magnificently the Pani Puri had been presented. Then he asked "Have you ever presented some thing so well?". I don’t remember the PJ that followed but you should have seen the course venue the next day. As the course participants were entering they were asking "Is there some special session today?" the venue was that clean.
Phuskar

More pics of the course at http://picasaweb.google.com/shubham.goel/YESIITKanpurNov08

My brother visited the campus and I got a chance to check out the iPhone 3g. It was in mint condition. I absolutely fell in love with the device. Though the differences are minor between the 2g and the new 3g but its so white and shiny!!! Plus it has GPS and a data plan which works on roaming. I have been struggling really hard to get the data plan activated on my iPhone. Also the rumors are true. Because of the new shape it really feels better to hold and work on. I must appreciate his patience because I really know how to fiddle with a device and test its limits.
A Reflection of the 2g in the 3g iPhone :)
I took him out to Tarka along with Rajesh Bhaiya and some close friends. It was fun to see him after a long time. We tried awesome new Italian dishes, names of which I still can't pronounce:)
Pavan's G4 on the right
Last week end I got to lay my hands on Pavan's Powerbook G4. Its always feels nice to finger around with vintage Apple stuff. Pavan would kill me if he reads this cause he sincerely believes that his G4 is faster than my intel duo and loves his machine. Ignorance is a bliss after all. Did I mention I accidentally erased his hard disk at 4 am in the morning, but then I remebered "There are no accidents in life"- Master Oogway
Dinner Gang
From the left: Some awesome dude, Deep, Zeba, Abhishek, Dheeraj, Siddharth and Rashmita
Row 2: Divya, Avani, Gauri, Vipul and Laxmikant
And finally today to celebrate children's day we went to the near by juvenile centre and I made a new friend Chandan. Later I cajoled the three babes (Avani, Divya and Zeba) to cook dinner for us and after 3 hrs of cooking and grocery shopping we had a great meal and lots of people to help finish :)

Video Chat in Gmail
And the cherry on the icing is that google has has released video and voice chat and the best part, it all works on mac this time.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Update.......

Seems like day after day my life is becoming like an unstable reaction. A new adventure every day. Sometimes I have no clue where I am going or getting up and my bed does not seem to be happy with this erratic behavior as it does not get to spend quality time with my bum any more. Even the bees are finding new people to sting now, though I made it up to them this morning. I was standing in the balcony debating whether to sleep in my room or my lab, when one gracious little one decided to kick start my day. But sadly it didn't get any action from my side. I quietly stood while it stung me and then took the bus to another realm. Though I did get a chance to test another desi nuska (local recipe) for bee stings. I'll probably do another post on ways and places to get stung at and what to do next......:)
Today I am Lucknow. It's my dad's birthday and I decided to surprise him by coming here even thought it has been raining non stop for the past 2 days. I just love the rain. Every thing seems to be so clean and serene. Very few people are generally out and the smell......hmm.....only one word comes to mind....... intoxicating.

Nimble meet quick

By the way my dad loved the surprise and he had a surprise of his own. He got a brand new, blazing fast, super slick, all aluminum body Macbook Pro 15". He unpacked it in front of me and boy you should have seen the look on his face. Later I gave him a demo of the new features and he really liked the multi touch gestures. For the first time a computer was getting his attention..... Lucky bastard. I think he will finally start checking his mails...:). I am now pretty sure that the "attention, intention & manifestation" technique that Guruji had taught us really works. Oh shit.....its 4 am......I think I should sleep now.....am at my home after all....will write more about the "attention, intention & manifestation" technique and the movie Jaane tu....ya jaane naa......later.....(its awesome.............must watch )......
Bye
Cheers
Shubham

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Me................on my way to the city:)

This was before the recent hair cut tragedy............Today I got 'em fixed.............will post a new one soon